We appreciate your
cooperation in allowing us to speak with Ms. Steven in regards to
"Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle".If Ms. Steven is correct in answering our questions, this movie will not
bode well with our organization and the Asian-American community at large.

The casting of John Cleese
as Alex’s father leaves us confused and angered.Confused, because you infer that Lucy’s character (Alex) is
half-Caucasian.This is problematic
since it is obvious that Lucy Liu is not of mixed race. At the same time, it
nullifies the wonderful statement you made by casting her in the first
installment; her character is a strong Asian-American female, virtuous in her
actions and not the least stereotypical. It was for these reasons we honored
you with a MANAA Media Achievement Award two years ago.

But by casting John Cleese
as her father in "Full Throttle,” you’ve negated these qualities and at
the same time robbed the role from an Asian-American male actor. We probably
need not emphasize to you that a serious lack of substantial roles for capable
Asian-American male actors has rendered them nearly invisible in television and
movies.

At the same time, we
understand the novelty of a cameo, but we also believe that at the end of the
day, no one is going to come to this movie to see John Cleese. You could have
done so much more for a community of actors that needs all the help and support
it can get if you hired an Asian male.

To make matters worse, the
only parent that is a bonafide Asian, her Chinese mother, is an actress who is
only seen twice: Once briefly in an insert of her picture, and another scene
where she does not have a speaking line.In an E-mail that was sent to your assistant Anna, we clearly stated
that we hope that the audience will clearly see that she inherited everything
good about her from both sides of her family. We were let down.

Though it may be too late to
re-cast John’s role, MANAA believes that there are some remedies to strengthen
Lucy’s character as an Asian American.All it would take is a simple re-shoot, possible looping a few lines of
an existing scene:

Keep her Asian

Do not make John Cleese her
father by blood.Add a line, which
establishes that she is adopted.

Strengthen the role of Lucy’s mother

Give Lucy’s mother a few
lines that will not only make her character more than one-dimensionalbut show that Lucy was passed down some of
her fine qualities from her mother.

On a separate note, we have
received complaints about a recent episode of "Fastlane" entitled
"Mighty Blue." In this very derisive episode that aired on December
4, 2002, you depict an Asian gangster mentally and physically abusing, and
eventually killing an Asian-American woman.In the same episode, we see another "evil" Asian male spit on
the face of Tiffany Amber Thiessen’s Billie character.

These have been some of the
most despicable and cowardly television portrayals we’ve seen lately. We are
appalled that you could have allowed some of the most cartoonish and
stereotypical characters to be churned out by the writers.You had the great opportunity to show an
Asian-American male as one of the protagonists, but instead you chose to make
them all evil and then feature an Asian female undercover cop in the typical
role of the pretty little"China doll," the object of Deaq's and Van's
lust. Of course she has to fall for Bill Bellamy’s character, probably since
Asian men are such big jerks or non-existent as you’ve made them out to be in
both "Full Throttle" and "Fastlane."

Mc G, we need to meet with
you and discuss all of these concerns in person.Hopefully a face to face meeting will help explain some of your
creative choices and provide steps in which both parties can take to improve
this situation.We anxiously await your
response.